Ecodale - Shipping Container Home and Farm

Today's water check in, good clear water!

2020-08-06T16:51:00.001-05:00

After applying the CDC recommended bleach to my tank, it is clear and looking good 15 days later!

Treated water after delivery

2020-07-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

There was a little bit of green at the bottom of the tank before a new delivery came in so once everything settled it's been 2 days since the delivery I check the tank and it was slightly cloudy so according to CDC guidelines I applied the certain specific amount of bleach for 2200 gallons it's about 56 oz of bleach should be clear in A-day or 2

Deer

2020-07-08T20:29:00.001-05:00

Here is my tribe... Jimmy is the male in front.

Buying a welder, which kind? which model? which brand? and beginning the process of developing the design for the roof on our structures

2020-05-08T12:22:00.002-05:00

After researching all the various types of welding it is apparent that each style has their own highs and lows. It seems that stick welding it hot, deep, and produces a lot of spatter and a mess to clean up. MIG welding, especially using flux core style wire feed, appears to be a great way to control and get started with very little experience. While TIG welding appears to be one of the best, but requires more experience and skill to create beautiful and amazing welds. While I may not be spot on for what I just said, this is what I have learned and I am here to share my own experience. The welder that we are focused on buying is the EASTWOOD ELITE MP200I MULTI PROCESS WELDER - MIG, TIG, STICK. This device does all 3 types of welding and has a current price of $799.99, but after JUST CHECKING right now... the sale is showing $699.97!!! OMG, I bought the welder (05/08/2020) even though it is out of stock until 05/17/2020. But I don't need it today, but having it would be a real motivator to get into the yard and start getting my lessons going forward.

THE EASTWOOD ELITE MP200I MULTI PROCESS WELDER FEATURES:

MIG, Stick or TIG Weld
Latest IGBT Inverter Technology
120 VAC or 230 VAC Input Voltage
200-amp maximum welding output
40% Duty Cycle @ 90A 120 VAC
20% Duty Cycle @ 200A 230 VAC
Welds up to 3/8” thick steel
Built-in Spot Weld Timer

I called Eastwood and asked about the details related to this device. Since the electrician is going to be coming by soon and installing the electricity into the garage, we will want to install the right 230V VAC socket to accommodate this device. They confirmed that the socket will be the following type:

Electrical line fixed, returned, and ready for the electrician

2020-05-08T10:48:00.001-05:00

How we track water

2020-05-08T10:31:00.001-05:00

Since the first days of being on the farm, we realized that tracking water levels, quality, and regular maintenance are required. We have had to dump water that had a frog in it, dump and bleach the tanks due to algae. All I can tell you is that learning water stewardship and maintenance isn't something people in cities are ever taught. Nor are they taught how to conserve and respect water. Here are pics from our first list that was designed for tracking maintenance. Initially it was designed to use the sign in and out "initial" box on the right, to make sure that if you opened the tank, you sealed it back up. That couple with, "if you opened it, what are the numbers? Gallons, temperature, time of day details."

Here in the last picture, you can see the newest chart that was created after a new water delivery for 05/05/2020. If you notice a new column with "NOTES" to be included on the status of the water, which is something to help keep maintenance going. If you did not see the Water treatment blog post, you will see that at a new blog post that can be read here - - - > Water Treatment using chemical treatment (bleach) per the CDC guidelines.

Recent pics of the house

2020-05-04T16:04:00.002-05:00

Here are some of the recent pics of the house. A shot of the porch/deck. A shot in the guest house/office, a panorama shot of the square courtyard, and a shot of the garage. House and office are blue, while the garage is red.

Fixed the electrical "knick" in the main line going to the garage; Ready to rebury

2020-04-28T13:01:00.002-05:00

I recently dug up the conduit from the garage to fix a known "knick" in the power line running from the office junction box to the garage. The electrcial came by and used a special spray from a can, and then wrapped it real nice with electrical tape. He confirmed that it is fully resolved and that this is ready to re-bury. I will be gathering the supplies and re-burying the conduit this weekend coming up. Then once that is done, and the hole is drilled through the garage container floor, we will then commission the electrician to revisit and complete all the electrical wiring needed to light the garage for a final wrap up event.

Electrician completed the fix and here is the result.

Water treatment - How to treat water per CDC guidelines and a look at what we did to our water supply

2020-04-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

Currently here at Ecodale, we have a 2550 gallon tank of water. Right now we were down to 300 gallons as of yesterday, and had a delivery brought in by Agua Dulce out of Dripping Springs. Currently we pay $280 for that delivery per our agreement that has been ongoing for years now. So if you contact them and there are different rates, I cannot comment on that at this time.

After the delivery, the tank was at 2200+ gallons. Last night after I let the water settle down and it appears slightly cloudy. So I let it sit overnight since I had things to do, and I would address the next morning. That would be this morning.

So I went and got the bleach, and did some math per the CDC guidelines. I checked the tap water and it appears very clear. Not cloudy at the tap, but slightly cloudy in the tank. Based on these observations, I determined that we would go with the CDC recommendation of:

If tap water is clear: 1. Use bleach that does not have an added scent (like lemon). 2. Add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops or about 0.75 milliliters) of household liquid bleach to 1 gallon (16 cups) of water. 3. Mix well and wait 30 minutes or more before drinking.

With that said, the equation of 2200 gallons x .75 millileters = 55.79314 US fluid ounces. So I used the 2.5 or so cups of concentrated bleach (a little over 8%) that we had left. Then I topped to the 3 cup line with regular or 6% bleach. Then another 3 cups of the regular bleach and then 1 more cup of regular bleach again. My vessel for measuring is 3 cups, so that is how I was able to break down what I measured. In total, there was 56 US fluid ounces of bleach into the 2200 gallons. I expect that in the morning the water should be clear and may have a slight smell of bleach for a day or two. But with the sun and texas warmth, most of that evaporates off quite quickly. It is difficult to stir such a large vessel of water, but the last times we did this the next day it was clear that bleach does resolve issues of algae in the tank. I will regroup and comment back after I check again tomorrow. Here is a video I snapped while I was up on the tank today. Also I have placed a link to the CDC PDF on "Make Water Safe" below the video. Feel free to use this as reference, as it is directly from the Centers for Disease Control, not something I created.

CDC guidelines - Make Water Safe

New hibiscus showed us yellow today! So amazing!

2020-04-24T14:21:00.001-05:00

Bean and bacon tostada w/avocado

2020-04-21T09:20:00.001-05:00

Midday hummus and tortilla chips with oranges and raspberries

2020-04-20T13:46:00.001-05:00

Bacon real meat slider burger on sourdough w/mayo and mustard, plus Large salad

2020-04-20T11:46:00.001-05:00

Homemade banana bread with dates salted cashews and broken up cookies

2020-04-20T09:55:00.001-05:00

Homemade chicken curry

2020-04-19T20:13:00.001-05:00

Post ride lunch Bacon tomato garlic Chipotle mayo on sourdough w/side salad

2020-04-19T13:31:00.001-05:00

Pre 2 hour ride breakfast taco, eggs bacon cheese and guac

2020-04-19T09:45:00.001-05:00

Last night's dinner was fishsticks w/rice and beans

2020-04-19T09:09:00.001-05:00

Grilles burger w/mushroom gravy and sweet potato topped with beans and fresh onions and tomatoes

2020-04-18T11:59:00.001-05:00

Grillers prime meatless Burger with wagging gravy with mushrooms and a side of veggies

2020-04-17T20:10:00.001-05:00

Mash potatoes with wag you mushroom gravy and a crusty roll toasted with butter blueberry and cherry jam

2020-04-17T15:14:00.001-05:00

Burger and egg sliders

2020-04-17T11:41:00.001-05:00

Southwest scrambled eggs on top of the tostada with cheese and salsa

2020-04-17T09:28:00.001-05:00

Hot dog and French fries after race night

2020-04-16T20:34:00.001-05:00

Rice and beans w/smoked chicken and pickled veggies at 11am and 3pm

2020-04-16T15:11:00.001-05:00